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--- In , Rick Mills <creepyrick@c...>
wrote:
> Hey guys,
> Brian emailed me that there was some talk about the Hallmark
sweptwings
> so I thought I'd join the discussion and throw in my 2 cents.
> I've had one of the new ones for a couple months now. I like it. I
had
> to have a little work done to get it in good shape, though.
> Structurally, it's really solid. The hardware's great. The finish
is
> beautiful. I had trouble with the bridge pickup cutting out. I
took it
> to a highly regarded guitar tech here in Detroit, Mike Koontz. He
opened
> it up and said the wiring was kinda sloppy and the pots were
pretty
> cheap. So he replaced the pots and rewired some of it. He also
replaced
> the nut because the G string kept popping out. He also adjusted
the neck
> and leveled the frets to eliminate some fret buzz. I got it back
and the
> pickup was still cutting out. I contacted Bob Shade at Hallmark
and he
> sent me a new pickup. That took care of the problem. I had Mike
set it
> up for .013s with a heavier vibrato spring that Bob sent me. Now
it's
> great.
> I don't know if the problems I had were flukes or if this reflects
the
> quality level of the line. Bob was very responsive about taking
care of
> them.
> I'v only had a chance to use it live once, so far. I played for
half a
> set with the Hellbenders. It performed admirably. I've been using
it at
> practice and it plays great. The pickups sound a little like
Mosrite
> pickups, not exactly, but similar. There a little hotter than what
I'm
> used to on my Jazzmaster. They're different from the pickups on my
> original Hallmark. Considerably brighter.
> So, I like it so far, but I feel I need to get it on stage more
before I
> can give a better judgement.
>
> Rick Mills
Thanks for the reply, Rick. I'm still on the fence between a
Sweptwing and a Mosrite, but I'm leaning more heavily towards
the 'Wing - it's just a more unique guitar. I know it's an apples-to-
oranges comparison - but how does the 'Wing compare to the
Jazzmaster aside from the pickups (neck profile, frets, scale, etc)?
Thanks,
Patrick
www.thecavefish.com
www.myspace.com/cavefish
